A Mormon List Electric

SUMMER 2003

Prices include FREE shipping & insurance.

HERE is the closest thing to a catalog that I have issued in three years, since Mormon List 65 (August 2000).  With the advent of eBAY, general computer ownership, and websites everywhere (not to mention a dramatically changing economy and customer profiles), my sales have become more individual, more digitized, more private.

This may not be a "Mormon List 66," but it offers much better illustrations than the paper series - plus the same careful listings and hands-on attention to your questions and orders.  Items are returnable within a few days of receipt for any reason (although that almost never happens).

Click on the thumbnail pictures below to see larger illustrations, then use the links beside the pictures to return to the same entry you were reading.  Arm the computer;  browse and buy when ready . . .

——————————

 

 

". . . Mormonism . . . keeps its obnoxious features in reserve – hidden
beneath a mask—and only gradually to be revealed
as they can be tolerated by the disciple . . ."

[ADAM-GOD]  Lengthy, presumably original editorial in the Portland Transcript  (newspaper, Portland, Maine) for Saturday, June 3, 1854 [XVIII:8].

Folio, paged [57]-64 (8 pages).  Removed from a binding.  Browning and faint dampstains, but not too worn.

(order item #1):  $60

Twenty column inches by the editor (Edward H. Elwell) complain about the "tenets of mormonism" on page 62.  The history of the sect is fairly well known, writes Elwell, but not so with its peculiar doctrines, based on a recent article in the Edinburgh Review.  Polygamy, polytheism, and materialism - even anticipating animal sacrifices in future temples - all form a part of deeper Mormon doctrine, according to this writer.

While some Latter-day Saints may imagine that the Adam-God doctrine was merely some oblique misinterpretation by modern anti-Mormons of a passing phrase or two in the Journal of Discourses, that doctrine was certainly not missed by writers of the time, as we see in the newspaper now at hand:

This long complaint concludes with the same overly-optimistic prognostication seen in so many commentaries of the mid-nineteenth-century . . .

Modern trends in LDS public relations seem to play down the concept of eternal progression to Godhood.  A century and a half ago, however, informed "gentiles" considered this to be an integral part of Mormonism, as reflected by Mr. Elwell . . .

A separate blurb on page 63 mentions that "The Mormons have great facilities for preserving their meat.  The water of Salt Lake is as strong as brine, and only needs to be poured into barrels in which meat is packed, to preserve it."

 

 

[Beadle, John Hanson.  Life in Utah;  Or, the Mysteries and Crimes of Mormonism . . .]  Conditions for Life in Utah;  or, the Mysteries and Crimes of Mormonism.  Being an Exposé of their Secret Rites and Ceremonies; . . .  [National Publishing Company, ca. 1870].

Small broadsheet advertising handbill listing the price of the book "In Extra Fine English Cloth . . . at $2.75 per Copy" or "In Fine Leather, (Library Style,) . . . at $3.25 . . ."  On the back is a blank line for the agent to sign and leave with the potential customer.  "To avoid delaying the Agent, whose time is valuable, subscribers are requested to be prepared with the price of the book on its presentation by the Agent."

8 X 15 cm. (approximately 3 X 6 inches).  Printed on the front and back.  Condition essentially as new.

(order item #2):  $20

Describing the famous anti-Mormon potboiler as having 540 pages (the first edition), these ephemeral advertising pieces would date from ca. 1870 and are bright and well preserved.  Disclaimer:  I obtained a small quantity of these, so more than one may be sold.

 

 

 

The Book of Mormon . . . Salt Lake City [c. 1920;  at bottom of final page:  "Press of Zion's Printing & Publishing Co., Independence, Jackson County, Mo, U.S.A."].

18½ cm.  [4]ff., 568 pp.+ list of "A few Interesting Book of Mormon References" printed on front flyleaf.

(order item #3):  $45

Flake  693 or similar ("cannot" spelled correctly on page 298).  Original black cloth, gilt-lettered spine.  In pleasing, clean condition but for old stake mission ownership stamps on the final back flyleaf & pastedown.  Some people would call this a "fine" copy, but let's save that word for really spectacular examples.

 

 

[CARICATURE]  Puck  (illustrated newspaper, New York)  for December 28, 1881 [X:251].

Quarto (34 X 26 cm.), paged [261]-[276] (sixteen pages).  Front & back pages and centerfold printed in color.  Some wear, and separating;  the Mormon centerfold nearly fine.

(order item #4):  $75

Click on the thumbnail image at left to view three illustrations. The large color centerfold of this issue (11 X 18½ inches + margins) is an elaborate political cartoon showing the 1882 New Year baby hovering over the earth with assorted scandals and political squabbles in America.  Dead center, its body wrapped among the Brooklyn Bridge and various swindlers, is a hissing snake labeled, "Mormonism."  It is drawn by J. Keppler, and is beautifully reproduced in color (much reduced in size) in Gary L. Bunker and Davis Bitton, The Mormon Graphic Image, 1834-1914 . . . (Salt Lake City, 1983), page 107.

 

 

 

[Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. HYMNAL]  Rev. H. D. Jenkins.  "The Mormon Hymn Book."  Article in Our Monthly  (Cincinnati) for December, 1870 [II:12].

25½ cm.  Paged [377]-450, [iv (general title & contents)] + ads.  Original light blue front (only) printed wrappers.  Backstrip perished and gatherings separated;  partly unopened.

(order item #5): *SOLD $45*

Yes, this issue is falling apart.  However, a most unusual and intelligent article (pp. 420-26) analyzes the artistic and theological aspects of the LDS hymn book.  Rev. Jenkins gives a precise description of the book and binding itself, allowing one to identify it as Flake 1769 or -70.  A choice contribution!

 

 

 

[Danish converts]  Jørgen W. Schmidt.  Oh, Du Zion I Vest.  Den Danske Mormon-Emigration 1850-1900.   København: Rosenkilde og Bagger, 1965.

24 cm.  [2]ff.; [7]-270 pp. + plates & folding map.  Orig. illustrated wrappers.  Moderate wear.  Unopened.

Scarce and impressive work, with bibliographic checklists and great illustrations;  cited by Flake as a reference used, p. 813.  In Danish, but with the foreword, table of contents, and promotional blurb in both Danish and English

(order item #6): *SOLD $65*

 

 

150-year-old lithograph

[FORT BRIDGER]  "FORT Bridger.  Black's Fork of Green River."  Lithographed illustration plate taken from Howard Stansbury's Expedition to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah (Philadelphia, 1852; image lithographed by "Ackerman" on Broadway, New York City).

Single leaf, verso blank.  The image measures 11½ X 19½ cm. (4½ X 75/8 inches;  complete leaf measuring a little over 5½ X 8¾ inches).  In excellent, clean condition, printed on good paper. Click on the thumbnail image above to view two illustrations.  

(order item #7):  $65

Would be nice on a wall, and it is small enough to frame inexpensively.  It shows the famous fort as known by the early pioneers:

The 1847 pioneers first saw Ft. Bridger on July 7.  Some traded for buckskins to replace their worn-out clothing.  Entries in Brigham Young's diary over the next few years highlight the significance of this fort to the people of the region.

 

 

the "ghost" fort, faked by Harper's

[FORT BRIDGER]  "Part of the Camp at Fort Bridger."  WOODCUT ENGRAVING depicting Johnston's army at the fort during the Utah War.  On a leaf taken from Harper's Weekly (New York) for Saturday, January 30, 1858.

One folio leaf, paged 71-2.  Evenly toned.  Edges somewhat uneven or worn, and priced accordingly.  Can still be matted for presentable display. Click on the thumbnail image below to view three illustrations.

(order item #8):  $37.50

The top of this page is dominated by an imposing three-quarter-length engraved portrait of Albert Sidney Johnston (of "Johnston's Army"). Also present is part of an article entitled, "The Utah Expedition.—[From our own Correspondent.]"  It is dated from "Fort Bridger, U. T., December 1, 1857."  "We are at present encamped on Black's Fort [sic]," explains the correspondent,

The engraver cheated when he created this illustration, evidently imagining the late 1857 appearance of the fort from the illustration in Stansbury's Expedition (1852).  Add some soldiers, tents, a little snow, and what have you got?  A scene created out of whole cloth.

In fact, the Mormons had burned Ft. Bridger to the ground two months earlier, at the beginning of October 1857!  And where is the stone wall which had been erected recently (and of course did not appear in Stansbury's 1852 illustration) ?  I am grateful to Utah War historian William P. MacKinnon who confirms my suspicions above in e-mails of June 2003.  He writes:

 

 

[Grant, Heber Jeddy (Church President, 1918-45)]  Compliments of Grant Bros Company.  Telephone N^o 211. . . .  Livery and Transfer, Salt Lake City, Utah.  [Heber J. Grant, Presdt. . . .  Hall & O'Donald Lith. Co. Topeka].  N.d., but ca. 1891.

(order item #9):  *SOLD $275*

BI-FOLD CARD printed in colors.  14¼ X 8½ cm. (5½ inches tall).  [4] pp.  Very good, evenly toned.  Light wear but quite presentable, the two halves re-joined along the inside of the backfold using Japanese tissue. Click on the thumbnail image to view illustrations.

Intended particularly for tourists, delineating basic history and statistics of the city and territory.  Salt Lake City has 600 telephones and 52,800 people.  In 1890, real estate transfers totaled $21,759,004.00.

Located at 40-46 S. West Temple Street, the Grant Brothers Company boasts "The Largest Livery Barns west of Chicago.  For Carriages and Light Livery.  Special Attention to Tourists and Visitors."  Each page has a nice engraving, the outside pages showing Temple Square with horse-drawn carriages and the Grant Brothers Building, in color, and on the inside, views of Brigham Young's grave and the "Gardo House.  Residence of Brigham Young."

Acquired from an old collection, this rare Grant handout is something I have not seen before.  "Apostle Grant is pre-eminently a business man," wrote Andrew Jenson in 1901 (without mentioning the Livery company documented by the present card),

 

 

 

Hartranft, Rufus C.  GUIDE TO THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA.  Compiled by Rufus C. Hartranft.  Presented by the Local Committee for the use of Members attending the Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in Philadelphia, September, 1884.  Philadelphia, 1884.

15½ cm.  [1 (title)]f., 126, [14 (blank “Memoranda”)] pages + 2 folding illustrations.  Original grayish-green printed front (only) wrapper detached and worn, but present.  The text block itself - not counting worn front wrapper (and missing back wrapper) is in fine condition.

(order item #10):  $85

Not in Flake.  How many copies of this one-time meeting-participants’ guide to Philadelphia do you expect would have survived?  There is at least this copy, and in the section listing churches for visiting scientists to attend, both Brighamite and Josephite Mormons are thoughtfully considered on page 82:

Think of it!  In 1884, the Association for the Advancement of Science was willing to list the location where any of its polygamous Mormon members might attend church while in Philadelphia.  Quite remarkable.

 

 

Hofmann, Mark. AUTOGRAPH, signed "Mark W. Hofmann 1-6-86 My left hand" on a sheet of my business stationery.  [Salt Lake City], January 6, 1986.

(order item #11): *SOLD $1,000*

One page, 8¼ X 8½ inches.  Fine.  Rare cursive signature in his naturally awkward left hand, written while his right hand was mending from his own bomb explosion.  From the period at home, between the bombings and the preliminary hearing. Click on the thumbnail image at right to view three illustrations.

::Also signed::   by Shannon P. Flynn ("Truth will prevail") December 17, 1985,

::and::  by Brent Lee Metcalfe, January 15, 1986,

::and::  with an outline drawing of a salamander in red ink by Lyn Jacobs, the end of the tail forming his initials, "LRJ," March 16, 1986.

Signed at my request on the dates noted (the dates also written by the individual signers).

The three friends of Hofmann (victims discussed in most of the books about the forgery/murders) signed this sheet when we still believed the man to be innocent of forgery and murder.  The late Dr. Jacobs, who had been working on an original home-crafts style "stained glass" window portraying Joseph Smith, the white salamander and Angel Moroni, left off that project shortly afterward, when evidence finally emerged which could not be doubted.

NOTE:  I had a number of these signed at the same time, but have only sold one example, several years ago, and retain the others.  Being manuscript, each example is naturally somewhat unique.  In addition, Jacobs drew the salamander on each one in a different color.  This is therefore the "red salamander" version.

As an avid . . . collector of autographs, Mark Hofmann must have sensed an ironic parallel situation when he signed this piece of paper that day . . .

 

 

 

"All are at liberty to select new partners if they choose; 
and many have chosen." p.6

The Home Missionary  (pamphlet-format monthly news­paper, New York, published by the Executive Committee of the American Home Missionary Society) for May, 1846 [XIX:1].

23 cm.  24 pp.  Original green wrappers printed on all sides.  A nice-looking copy, although text shows dampstains & foxing.  "Hon D Mack" neatly penned in upper margin of front wrapper.

(order item #12):  $45

A report entitled, "Mormon atrocities," sent in by Rev. A. B. Robbins from Bloomington, Iowa, occupies four column inches, and complains of the corruption among nearby Mormons who "are now receiving their endowments.  The Lord having accepted the temple, as they say . . ."  One aspect of their new-found "power from on high," explains Robbins, ". . . is the power to dissolve the marriage covenant."  Dejected Mormon wives ". . . now come to the  'Gentiles,' and in the bitterness of their souls inquire, 'What shall we do?  our husbands have left us and taken young wives, and we and our children are left destitute.'"

One woman, we read, educated and formerly pious, has embraced the system to the point of abandoning her husband and only child in order "to seek out a 'spiritual [husband],' for California."

 

 

[Howe, Eber D., printer]  Report of the Engineer, to the Directors of the Ohio Rail Road Company, March 20, 1837.  Painesville: Printed by Howe & Jaques, 1837.

23½ cm.  16 pp.  Original printed glossy lavender wrappers.  Unopened and uncut.  Nearly fine;  foxing.  On September 30, 1837, someone could not resist writing the name of "Rice Harper Esqr, Richmond City Ohio," over and over again, covering the back blank wrapper.  The writing is very nice, due in part to the fine, slick surface of the paper.  He adds, along the edge of the page, "By virtue of an Execution . . . $37500."  I'm sure some final document was the better for this practice session.

(order item #13):  $300

American Imprints 46071;  T. R. Thomson, Check List of Publications on American Railroads before 1841, 1706.  Intelligent detailed cost estimates by R. Higham for a line to run from the state line west across the north, through Painesville, Cleveland, and other towns to the Maumee River (where it would undoubtedly connect with the line completed the previous year from the Toledo area into southeastern Michigan). Click on the thumbnail image at left to view the larger illustration.

Printed by the man who, three years earlier, published the landmark anti-Mormon source compilation, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, 1834).  There is no Mormon content in this railroad pamphlet.  Howe-ever,  I was willing to pay $200 as a dealer to assure that it would be preserved and recorded in LDS circles.  It is worth my price as an early railroad piece, and does double duty as an interesting specimen from the hand of the man who brought us the Spaulding theory and some of the most important early accounts of the Smith Family in Palmyra.  The Panic of 1837 was eminent, and the "Ohio Rail Road" was not built as proposed.  At the moment this pamphlet appeared, Joseph Smith, a few miles away, faced the first of countless financial court actions which would ultimately inspire him to skip town by night and flee to Missouri.

This pamphlet is curious in two regards.  First, the bottom margins are very generous in some sheets, and the text rather short on the page, on all sheets.  Yet the wrapper printing arrangement dictates nearly the full length seen in this uncut copy, forcing some text leaves to be shorter than the covers.  In other words, the shorter leaves of text are on paper which does not reach the bottom level of the printing seen on the front wrapper.

Second, like an Ohio antimasonic publication which I spotted and attributed to Howe's press years ago (based on content, typography and other factors), this pamphlet is sewn into the wrappers with a single narrow stitch in the center of the backfold.  Such a technique is quite unlike that used to sew most such publications of the time.  (Compare to Proceedings of the Ohio Antimasonic State Convention, Held at Canton, Ohio.  On the 21st and 22d days of July, 1830.   [caption title]  N.p., n.d. [Painesville, Ohio? Eber D. Howe? 1830?].  21 X 12½ cm.  16 pp.)

 

[Howe, Eber D.]  See also item 42 (Seymour, S[tephen]. P.)

 

 

". . . through some mysterious influence he was acquitted by a Mormon jury." p. 4

[Indian murders]  . . . Hooper & Williams, Livingston, Kincaid & Co., Gilbert & Gerrish, and Others.  {To accompany Bill H.R. No. 720.}  May 18, 1860.  Mr. Walton, from the Committee of Claims, made the following Report.  The Committee of Claims, to whom was referred the memorial of H. S. Eldredge and Gilbert & Gerrish, and others, have considered the same, and report: . . .  [caption title;  at head:  "36th Congress, 1st Session.}  House of Representatives.  {Report No. 521."]  [Washington: Government Printing Office, 1860].

22½ cm.  5 pp. + integral blank leaf at the end.  Removed from a binding, else nearly fine.  Bright and clean.

(order #14 - includes the two items):  *SOLD $185*

Not in Flake;  not in Fales & Flake.  I purchased this item a mere sixteen years ago, and now hasten to catalog it for your possible interest.  Do not be afraid of a Government document.  The content is excellent, and the condition nice.  It has no pretty picture, so I will give you one to go with it:

::together with::

[Illustration - Salt Lake City]  "Interesting Facts About the Mormons.  From Our Utah Correspondent."  Two excellent half-page engravings of scenes in early Salt Lake City on a single leaf taken from Harper's Weekly  (New York) for Saturday, December 4, 1858 [II:101].

Folio.  Two pages on one leaf (781-2).  The illustrations are both on one side of the leaf and are attractively hand-colored.  Very good, and ideal for framing.

Prominent in the lower illustration is the substantial building of "Livingston, Kinkead & Co.," one of the firms named in the government document offered here.  The photograph from which this engraving was made would have been taken near the time Judge Kinney wrote his letter to Washington on behalf of this firm and others which he had encouraged to forward money to the marshal (see below).

Other buildings illustrated are the Social Hall, Council House, Candland's Saloon, and another firm.  What a rough-looking, muddy street!  The back of this leaf has three columns of very colorful, descriptive text (but not the entire article, which began on a page not present here).  According to the correspondent, tourists would arise in the morning from their beds at the saloon and go out to wash in the pure water running in the gutters beside the road.  Brigham owned the saloon, we read - the only place where he would allow gentiles to board - and the patrons amused themselves observing David Candland's simpering manipulation of charges from day to day, sizing up the gentiles' maximum ability to pay.

 

Mr. Walton's Report explains that when Joseph P. Heywood was appointed Utah Territorial marshal in 1851, the federal government allowed him to give local merchants drafts on the US treasury in order to get cash to run the federal courts there.  In other words, Heywood cashed checks at the local stores.  Why the merchants accommodated him is not explained here.  What is important, however, is that when the government later tightened up procedures, an overlap in the system left major Utah firms holding the bag.  They had advanced the money, partly on the word of federal Judge John Fitch Kinney,  (1816-1902;  Chief Justice for the Territory of Utah;  Utah Territorial Delegate to Congress).

This entire document is instructive, but the supporting letter of Judge Kinney, dated from Washington, May 21, 1858, is particularly interesting.  Here is a substantial excerpt . . .

 

This was no small matter. The amount in question came to $57,840.28, which the Salt Lake merchants had advanced and waited for years for the government to repay. "However innocent Mormons may have been of involvement in the Gunnison affair," writes Will Bagley,

  Kinney returned to his post in Utah, and worked within the system, often catering to Brigham Young when not arresting him for bigamy.  He represented Utah in Congress 1863-5, moved to Nebraska, then California, and died in Salt Lake City on August 16, 1902.

 

 

 

"Louisa."  Letter to friends in the Syracuse, NY, area.  Chicago, May 9, 1884.

20 X 12 cm.  6 pages on 3 leaves (two of which are conjugate).  Written in purple ink.  Without cover or address.  Very good.

(order item #15):  *SOLD $40*

Rambling social correspondence, mentioning Syracuse, and "your Brother Jerome & his family I knew there when I lived in Lafayette   I feel as if all the Cook family was my connection . . ."  The following enigmatic passages appear on page [4, i.e., back page of the conjugate leaves], continuing along the upper margin of that page, and on the final page of the single leaf . . .

From the context of the letter, it would appear that the writer means to say that Mary, the Mormon, dropped Mrs. D's family from her correspondence, and that Mrs. D's family were Spiritualists.

 

 

[Map]  Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada.  Idaho.  McNally's System of Geography, Map No. 17.  1865?

29½ X 23½ cm.  (11½ X 9¼ inches).  Hand-colored in pastel tones.  Geography questions and exercises about California and Minnesota printed on the other side (p. 41).  Moderate wear & soil, but presentable. Click on the thumbnail image below to view two illustrations.

(order item #16):  SOLD

 

 

 

"Theirs is the only true church;  they know this with absolute certainty."

[Missouri]  Newark Daily Advertiser (newspaper, Newark, NJ) for Monday evening, November 29, 1841 [10:129].

Folio, [4] pages.  Some foxing and light wear but presentable;  disbound.

(order item #17):  *SOLD $65*

An interesting letter from Iowa to the New York Sun is picked up on page two (10 inches of tiny type).  The writer delineates Mormon doctrine on several points, and quite accurately - but the portions regarding Missouri sound wide-eyed . . .

 

 

 

"A Mormon Trouble Brewing---Seditious Preaching in Salt Lake City."  Front-page column in the Rochester Daily Democrat (newspaper, Rochester, New York) for Tuesday Morning, November 14, 1865 [33:504].

Large folio, [4] pages.  Very good;  moderate edge wear.

(order item #18):  SOLD

A major and damning article twenty inches in length, printing "a few extracts" from "a long letter from Great Salt Lake City, Oct. 8th" by "A. D. Richardson, the well known Tribune correspondent, . . . making some important and startling revelations of a rebellious purpose among the Mormons."

Richardson begins by explaining that he has spent seventeen days in Salt Lake City, studying affairs in Utah.  He insists that in the summer of 1865, Brigham Young left several prominent visiting interviewers with the distinct impression that polygamy was a secondary feature of Mormonism which would soon be allowed to die a natural death.  "I do not say that he willfully deceived us;  but he certainly gave us this idea."  This is a reporter who is attempting to be accurate.  "In this faith I endeavor to write of the people and leaders, with the utmost kindness;" he says,

According to the History of Brigham Young 1847-67 (Berkeley, California, c. 1964), pp. 355-6, on June 11, ". . . Hons. Schuyler Colfax, and Wm. Bross, and Messrs Albert D. Richardson and Samuel Bowes [i.e., Bowles] visited G. S. L. City, and were hospitably entertained. . . .  On Sunday evening, 18th, Speaker Colfax delivered, to a large audience in the Bowery, G. S. L. City, an oration on 'The Life and Principles of President Lincoln.'"

So Richardson was there, as he claims.  He continues his account by quoting from a sermon which he did not hear personally, but which seems to be a reaction to Colfax's oration . . .

 

August 28 was not a Sunday - perhaps the intended date was the 25th, one week following the future Vice President's oration in the Bowery.  The pro-Southern Mormon bias reported above seems confusing when contrasted with Samuel Bowles' account.  "In mid-summer of 1865," writes E. B. Long,

On September 24, five of reporter Richardson's acquaintances attended a morning service at the Bowery and listened to Heber C. Kimball supposedly lie in order to inflame the congregation:

 

 

[Nauvoo]  "The Mormon War."  Action-packed article in The Union (newspaper, Saco, Maine) for Wednesday, October 8, 1845 [1:36].

Folio, [4] pages.  Very good;  a medium edge wear.

(order item #19):  $65

The article occupies 3½ column inches on the second page . . .

 

 

 

 

Mormon murder on the way West?

[Pioneers]  Tri-Weekly Ohio Statesman.  Daily During the Session of the Legislature and Tri-Weekly the Balance of the Year.  (newspaper, Columbus, Ohio) for Wednesday, June 2, 1847 [I:116].

Listed on eBay March 11, 2005 (seven-day sale)

Folio, [4] pages.  A very good, clean copy, the two leaves neatly trimmed and separated from one another.  Bearing a manuscript subscriber designation at the top of page one:

Hon D. Tod

David Tod (1805-68;  Governor of Ohio 1862-4), hopefully got this paper!  This was the year he went to Brazil as U.S. ambassador, returning in 1851.  He was a founder of the Youngstown iron industry, and president of the Cleveland and Mahoning Valley Railroad through the final decade of his life.

A scarce Midwestern newspaper, with a scandalous report on page three from St. Louis regarding the actions of 1847 Mormon pioneers heading West . . .

 

 

 

 

 

fresh from Salt Lake, a month after the fact

[Pioneers]  Rochester Daily Advertiser (newspaper, Rochester, New York) for Wednesday Morning, August 25, 1847 [Volume XX].

Folio, [4] pages.  Some toning and moderate edge wear.

(order item #21): *SOLD $125*

Readers of this newspaper knew of the first Mormons in nearby Palmyra, and would have read this very recent news with interest (page 2, column 5).  Notice that this purports to be first-hand reporting, based on original letters just received.  If I felt entirely certain of that, the price would be higher.

 

 

 

 

[Polygamy]  The Burlington Free Press  (newspaper, Burlington, VT) for Friday Morning, August 25, 1865 [XXXIV (New Series XII):8]

Large folio, [4] pages.  Very good;  moderate edge wear.  Disbound from a volume, the two leaves nearly separated from one another.

(order item #22):  $45

"Polygamy in Utah.—Mr. Samuel Bowles writes to the Springfield, Mass., Republican from Utah . . ." (page 2, columns 2-3;  12 column inches of small type).

This is an early report, before the book.  Bowles and Schuyler Colfax (future Vice President under Grant) traveled from Atchison, Kansas, to San Francisco, May 21 - July, 1865;  see Flake 767, note on Bowles' Across the Continent:  A Summer's Journey to the Rocky Mountains . . . (Springfield, Mass., and NY, 1865).  Here is a sampling from the lengthy correspondence preserved in this paper:

 

 

[Polygamy]  A pair of classic views seen by millions of Americans in Harper's Weekly at the beginning of 1875.  Such pictures helped to prejudice the public mind against the peculiar institution, with the result that if you are LDS today, you are most likely not a child of plural marriage. Click on the thumbnail image at left to view four illustrations.

These are LARGE ENGRAVINGS by Tavernier and Frenzeny.  "Since 1857," write Gary L. Bunker and Davis Bitton,

TWO INDIVIDUAL LEAVES, each with modern hand-coloring, measuring approximately 11 X 16 inches, completely filled with the engravings except for captions, datelines, and suitable margins.  A matched pair, the same size in very good condition.  Frame the pair and send them to your mother-in-law.

Listed on eBay March 10, 2005 (seven-day sale)

A.  "Bringing Home the Fifth Wife - A Sketch in Mormondom."  On a single folio leaf taken from Harper's Weekly for January 2, 1875.  Intermediate wives peer dubiously from behind the first spouse who glares at the newly-weds with a resigned expression, arms akimbo:  they are not nearly so well attired as the latest addition!  The children and a wagon driver look on.  A simple but frameable illustration, revealing the popular image of Mormonism disseminated across the nation in this major household periodical.

B.  "Mormondom—A Fresh Supply of Wives—Going Out to the Settlements."   Mouths agape in songs of praise, a trio of smartly-clad young lovelies (looking like stylish, singing zombies) carrying an umbrella and purse strides down a rocky incline beside wagons which carry more women, with their trunks, and the men who have led them astray.  A real eye-catcher.

 

 

 

[Polygamy]  {Form of Oath for a Woman,}  Territory of Utah, County of . . .  N.p., 188- .

Oblong, partly-printed form, never used.  7½ X 21½ cm.  (3 X 8½ inches), verso blank.  Evidently removed from a stab-bound booklet of forms (and thus not necessarily the only example floating around, although I have never seen one).  Very good;  negligible light creases and minor dampstaining near the upper blank edge.

(order item #24):  *SOLD $65*

I could research this all day long.  In consideration of the modest price above, however, such a task will transfer to the next owner.

 

 

[Postcards]  Three early Utah postcards printed in color, never used and in very good condition. Click on the thumbnail image at left to view illustrations.

(order #25 - includes all three early postcards):  SOLD

A.  "The Oldest House in Utah.  Built 1847."  Pleasing color.  Published in Salt Lake City by Frank H. Leib, no. 957.  No date, but ca. 190- .

3¾ X 5½ inches.  Unused, in very good condition.

Early 1900s (back side is a single section, undivided, suggesting pre-1907).  A nice image of a familiar relic, as seen a century ago when only sixty years old, before it was moved to Temple Square.

::together with::

"Brigham Young's Statute [sic], Salt Lake City, Utah.  N.p., n.d., but 190- .

Size as above.  Very good.  Never mailed, but with a pencil note in the address space, "From Mr Stacey, Nov 6. 1905."  Image captioned in the negative, "Brigham Young Mon't. Salt Lake.  Johnson.  A."

::and::

"Tabernacle Organ and Choir.  Salt lake City, Utah."  [Salt Lake City: Souvenir Novelty Co.;  Copyrighed [sic] by Utah Photo Material Co., 1913.

Size as above.  Nearly fine, never used.  Printed in colors and quite striking.  Showing the smaller organ and the electric star "Welcome, Utah" sign which would look gaudy to later generations.

 

 

 

"The Reformation in Utah."  Article in Harper's New Monthly Magazine   for September, 1871 (No. 256).

25½ cm.  Paged [481]-640 + ads.;  illustrations throughout the text.  Orig. wrappers.  Untrimmed;  wear to backstrip, etc.

(order item #26):  $15

The anonymous article, pp. 602-10 traces Federal and civic efforts (by Godbe, among others) to break the theocratic stranglehold of Brigham Young.  Concludes naively:

 

 

 

Robbins, Irving W.  An Investigation into the printing of the first Annual Message of Governor Brigham Young, Utah Territory, September 22, 1851 [caption title;  large beehive device at top of first page].  [San Francisco: Designed and Printed by Lawton Kennedy.  Presented to The Western History Association by Warren R. Howell, Irving W. Robbins, Lawton R. Kennedy, Salt Lake City, October 18, 1963].

Quarto, 28½ X 21½ cm. (11¼ inches tall).  One large sheet folded twice to form [4] pages for text (the back of each blank, on the inside of the first fold).  Printed in black and red on fine paper with deckle fore-edge to first two pages.  Fine but for slight dents to the deep texture of the paper.

(order item #27):  $45

Tipped onto the third page is a facsimile reprint of:

First Annual Message of His Excellency, Governor Brigham Young, to the Legislative Assembly of Utah Territory, September 22, 1851.  Printed by Order of the Legislature. [caption title].  20 X 14 cm., 4 pp.

Robbins discusses this rare early Utah imprint briefly, having compared it to a copy at the LDS Church Library, and calls it a "great historical document."

The pamphlet in question is Flake 9346.  The facsimile shows two radically different-sized fonts used, which Robbins excuses from the hardships of the early Deseret News press which did the work, and was short on type.  We now have more precise information on this imprint from Richard L. Saunders (Printing in Deseret . . .), entries 43a, b, and 44.  However, the large pamphlet offered here is an attractive fine-press collectible, sporting prestigious names from the book world, and includes the useful facsimile of Young's entire four-page Message.

 

 

 

The Saints' Advocate. . . .  Plano, Illinois, March, 1879 [1:9].

23½ cm.  Paged [81]-88 (complete issue).  Unopened;  uncut.  Some light wear, but certainly a very good copy.  One sheet, folded to form the 8 pages.  Never bound, never cut open, never trimmed.

(order item #28):  $40

 

Flake 7476, recording the full run extending from July 1878 - June 1886 (showing the full run at the RLDS library and incomplete holdings at the LDS library).  Edited by W. W. Blair, published in the interest of the Utah Mission of the RLDS Church.  The illustration at right shows a portion of page 88 . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

cow town

[Salt Lake City]  "Great Salt Lake City, From the North."  Lithographed illustration plate taken from Howard Stansbury's Expedition to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah (Philadelphia, 1852; image lithographed by "Ackerman" on Broadway, New York City).

Single leaf, verso blank.  The image measures 11½ X 19¾ cm. (4½ X 7¾ inches;  complete leaf measuring approx. 5¼ X 8½ inches).  In excellent, clean condition, printed on good paper.  The image was printed somewhat crooked on the leaf, which has also been trimmed, leaving only a narrow margin at the top. Click on the thumbnail image at right to view illustrations.

(order item #29): * SOLD $45 *

A delightfully primitive view of the city during the earliest pioneer years.  If you raise cattle (or if you're just a suburbanite exhausted by Salt Lake City traffic), this picture belongs on your wall.

 

 

[Salt Lake City]  "STREET IN GREAT SALT LAKE CITY - Looking East."  Lithographed illustration plate taken from Howard Stansbury's Expedition to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah (Philadelphia, 1852; image lithographed by "Ackerman" on Broadway, New York City).

Single leaf, verso blank.  The image measures 11¼ X 19½ cm. (approx. 4½ X 7½ inches;  complete leaf measuring 5½ X 8¾ inches).  In very good, clean condition, printed on good paper.  The image was printed somewhat crooked on the leaf, which has also been trimmed, leaving the bottom and lower left margins narrow. Click on the thumbnail image above to view illustrations.

(order item #30):  $45

Choice early view of the city during the earliest pioneer years.  The famous width of the street is already well-apparent.  The pavers will come later.

 

 

"Salt Lake City and Its Rulers."  Article with nine hand-colored woodcut illustrations, on two leaves taken from Harper’s Weekly for July 11, 1857.

Folio, 2 leaves, paged 439-42 (four pages, three filled with the Mormon material).  In very good condition;  some short edge tears.

Listed on eBay March 11, 2005 (ten-day sale)

Very attractive;  would make quite an impressive framed pair.  "By John Hyde, Jun., Late Resident at Salt Lake City."  The article is very long, yet incomplete.  It is presumably extracted from Hyde’s Mormonism:  Its Leaders and Designs . . . published in New York the same year [Flake 4164-5]. Click on the thumbnail image at left to view several illustrations.

Two pages (on separate leaves) are filled with striking illustrations.  Across the bottom thirds of each page are views of the primitive-looking city and the lake itself.  Portraits of Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball fill the top third of one page, while on the other appears a nice engraving of the "New Temple to be Built at Salt Lake City" (5½ X 4¾ inches).  It looks very much like the final structure, although the angel (barely distinguishable) flies in a horizontal position atop the highest spire, as on the Nauvoo Temple.  Four smaller vignette illustrations show the old Tabernacle, the Council House, the "Mormon Theatre" and the layout of the Temple Block (small, but showing the location of the Endowment House, old Tabernacle, and other intriguing structures including the Bowery, I believe).

 

 

[Salt Lake City]  "Salt Lake City—Brigham Young's Harem and the Deseret Store.—[From a Photograph by Burr & Mogo.]"  Hand-colored woodcut engraving on a single leaf taken from Harper's Weekly for September 4, 1858.

Approx. 11 X 16 inches.  One leaf, paged 563-4.  Very good. Click on the thumbnail image to view larger illustrations.

(order item #32):  * SOLD $90 *

The illustration occupies 2/3 of the page (horizontal view, 7 X 13¾ inches) and is quite striking.  It shows a very primitive-looking Salt Lake City with wagons in the street, as seen looking across the intersection of Main and South Temple Streets, toward the site eventually occupied by Hotel Utah.  A quietly pleasing early view, very nicely colored in pastel tones.  In this business, I see many early views of Salt Lake City streets, but find this to be one of the most interesting and attractive.

 

 

[Salt Lake City]  Engraving of a street in Salt Lake City on a leaf taken from a French publication, Le Tour du Monde.  1862?

(order item #33):  $25

One leaf, 30 X 20 cm., paged 263-364 [sic].  The illustration (in the middle of the page) has modern hand-coloring, and measures approximately 5 X 6 inches.  The caption, translated, reads, "The large street (city of the Saints). — Drawing of Ferogio based on Mr. Burton."  Le Tour du Monde, a French periodical, printed Richard Francis Burton's City of the Saints, evidently in 1862.

 

 

[Salt Lake City]  Peaceful Hand-Colored Engraving of Salt Lake Valley from an unidentified French publication.  The picture is captioned, "Le Grand Lac Salé. - Émigration des Mormons. - Page 75."  Ca. 1870.

One horizontal leaf, 28½ X 38½ cm.  Related article, "Les Mormons," barely begins on the back, to continue on some leaf which is no longer present.  In very good condition.

(order item #34):  $85

Unusual and attractive.  The large horizontal view measures 9¼  X 13½ inches + margins.  The colors are primarily green and blue-green pastels, with a faint lavender and blue sky.  In the foreground, a small family rides in an ox-drawn wagon along a quiet country road.  Well-spaced farms and houses fill the background, with the edge of the Great Salt Lake visible in the distance.  Really quite pleasing.  I have only seen this view once before (on a leaf taken from a British publication), never with the French caption & text.

 

 

". . . one of the most beautiful of all modernly built cities."

"Salt Lake City."  Wonderful full-page elevated engraved view and accompanying article on a single leaf taken from Harper's Weekly for October 30, 1886.

Folio, 11¼ X 16 inches, paged 705-6 (two pages).  Very good and uncreased;  uniform browning.  Negligible faint dampstains to outer margins are barely noticeable, and could easily be matted over for display.

(order item #35):  *SOLD $85*

This is the illustration which was used for the wrap-around pictorial covers of Sam Weller's Zion Book Store Mormon-Utah catalog for Spring 1995.  It is based on a photograph by F. J. Monsen & Co. of Salt Lake, taken from the unfinished east towers of the Salt Lake Temple.  A man sits on a flat surface of the southeast corner of the building.  Beyond and below spreads a fine prospect down South Main Street, with a trolley, covered wagon, ladies promenading with parasols and the like.  ZCMI figures prominently in the picture, as do the snow-covered Wasatch mountains in the background.

A choice view.  The article, "Salt Lake City," fills 10½ column inches on the back, where one will also see a large illustrated ad showing a primitive-looking light bulb, plus another ad with a picture of a carriage.  Brigham Young is praised as the force which built Salt Lake and led to its economic greatness, which will stand as Young's memory long after civilization overthrows the LDS hierarchy and Mormonism is forgotten.

 

 

 

[Salt Lake City]  Mather, J. C.  LETTER to one "David," on stationery of the Continental Hotel ("Strictly First Class, Pleasantly Situated, J. H. Van Horn & Co., Proprs."), Salt Lake City, September 12, 1888.

10¾ X 8½ inches.  4 pages on two sheets of the nicely-printed Salt Lake City hotel stationery.  Very good;  folds from mailing.  Cover not present.

(order item #36):  $65

Mather appears to be an affluent investor who may stay the winter.  No mention of Mormons, but a nice sampling of Salt Lake City life.  Personal gas lanterns needed in order to walk the streets late at night after the electric lamps are turned off;  daily swims in the Great Salt Lake;  good accommodations;  rushing to get a lady on the train;  street traffic, Pullman car rates, etc.

 

 

[Salt Lake Temple]  "Mormon Temple in Course of Erection in Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, U.S."  Fine early engraving clipped from an unidentified issue of The Illustrated London News.  June 13, 1857? Click on the thumbnail image at left to view detailed illustrations.

(order item #37):  $45

This is a corner clipped from one leaf of the newspaper, showing the printed page numbers (569-70).  The entire engraving of the  future temple and a small part of the related article ("Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City") are present.  Generally clean and bright, and worth framing.  No date is available, but news on the verso mentions Prince Albert attending a horse race attended by the Queen, Prince Albert, and family.  Albert would die in 1861.  James E. Talmage noted, in his House of the Lord, that . . .

 

 

[Salt Lake Temple]  Excellent half-page ENGRAVING (6½X 9 inches) on a single folio leaf taken from Harper's Weekly for December 12, 1874.

          (order item #38):  *SOLD $40*

Folio (entire leaf measuring 16 X 10½ inches), nicely hand- colored in subtle pastel tones.  Some edge chipping (plus short tears without loss) can be matted over for display.

A nice, crisp image by Tavernier & Frenzeny showing men "Quarrying Stone for the New Mormon Temple."  Brief text explains that the workmen are in Little Cottonwood Canyon, and that "the new Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City, . . . is designed to be one of the largest places of religious worship in the country. . . . The death of Brigham Young, which in the course of nature can not be very distant, will probably be the signal for a general breaking up through internal dissensions, while the outside pressure against the religious and social system he has established grows more powerful every year."

 

 

". . . in some respects the most extraordinary settlement that men have ever founded."

[Salt Lake Temple]  "New Mormon Temple, Utah."  N.p., n.d., but ca. 1892.

11 X 13¼ inches.  One leaf (p. 531, verso blank) taken from an unidentified publication.  Lightly hand-tinted in pastel colors.  Nearly fine;  disbound.

(order item #39):  *SOLD $75*

Very attractive, and ideal for display.  Tape on the windows, scaffolding still in place on the towers, the angel not yet mounted.  The image itself measures 8 X 10 inches.  The lengthy caption is both favorable and interesting.  Salt Lake City "is in many ways a city of the world, like any other great metropolis.  Yet no one enters it without perceiving traces of that Mormon religion, which . . . still exerts upon its life so powerful an influence.  Over most of the shops is the motto, 'Holiness to the Lord,' . . ."  All the world has heard of the amazing Tabernacle, we read, yet even that building "is destined to be surpassed by the Temple represented in this illustration.  It is a structure which at once commands our admiration . . ."

 

 

[Salt Lake Temple]  The Mormon Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah.  Np., n.d., but ca. 1893.

10½ X 12¼ inches.  One leaf (pp. 67-8) taken from an unidentified publication (the other side shows a scene at Brighton Beach, Coney Island).  Very good.

(order item #40): SOLD

Black and white illustration from a photograph taken in 1893.  The Angel is in place, but the tape is still on the windows.  The ground in front of the temple is still a mess.  A nice image, with the shadows from the spires cascading across the Tabernacle roof.  More than 100 years old, and suitable for display.  The lengthy caption provides historical Utah tidbits.  "In 1873 Mr. Frelinghuysen introduced a bill severely censuring polygamy, and declaring that the wives of polygamists could claim relief by action for divorce.  In 1874 the committee of the House of Representatives reported a bill which reduced Utah to the position of a province . . ."

 

 

early illustrations of the Salt Lake Temple interior

[Salt Lake Temple - interior views]  . . . The Interior of the Great Temple of the Mormons at Salt Lake City:  The First Published Photographs.  On the site on which President Brigham Young said "Here we will build the temple of our God:"  in the Latter-day Saints' Finest Building.  Supplement to the Illustrated London News, Dec. 30, 1911.

Large folio sheet folded to form four pages.  Printed on glossy paper, filled with illustrations from photographs copyrighted by Rudger Clawson, "Reproduction Forbidden."  Some wear and unevenly trimmed along the fore-edge;  a small tape repair along back fold.

(order item #41):  *SOLD $60*

Large views in black and white of the baptismal font, Council Room of the Twelve Apostles, and various meeting rooms (seven images in all).  These pre-date James E. Talmage's House of the Lord, which was produced in part to reduce the effect of the unauthorized photographs taken secretly by Gisbert Bossard earlier in the year.  The text is entirely complimentary to the Mormons, undoubtedly as a concession to obtain publishing rights from the Church. 

The first appearance of some of Bossard's sneaked photographs was on September 16, on the front pages of the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret Evening News.  For the full story - at times amusing, see Kent Walgren, "Inside the Salt Lake Temple:  Gisbert Bossard's 1911 Photographs," Dialogue 29 (Fall 1996), pp. 1-43.

The pictures which appear in the Illustrated London News Extra offered here, however, are those taken at the request of Joseph F. Smith by Ralph Savage to counteract the extortion efforts of the men who held Bossard's originals, taken when he sneaked into the temple with the help of a Temple Square gardener.  According to statements in this article (which was obviously published by the permission of the Church), this is the first appearance in print of these Savage photographs.  However, Walgren notes that . . .

 

 

Did he know the Smiths in Palmyra?

Seymour, S[tephen]. P.  Autograph Document Signed as Cashier of "Cuyler's Bank, of Palmyra."  Palmyra, New York, May 5, 1851.

8½ X 19¾ cm. (3¼ X 7¾ inches).  Partly-printed bank check accomplished in manuscript, directed to Abraham Bell & Son, 117 Fulton St., N. York, in favor of Thompson & Lyon to the amount of $93.92.  Endorsed on verso, "Thompson & Lyon";  cancelled on front in faint pink ink, not affecting Seymour's signature, which is large and fine.  Small ornamental devices.  Check numbered in manuscript, "200."  Attractive and in very good condition.

(order item #42):  $125

Stephen P. Seymour was one of the signers of an anti-Mormon statement by a group of citizens, dated Palmyra, December 4, 1833, published in Eber D. Howe's Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, Ohio, 1834), pp. 261-2.  For background and commentary, see Vogel, Early Mormon Documents Vol. 2, pp. 48-50.  "We, the undersigned," reads the statement (probably written by Doctor Philastus Hurlbut),

Cuyler's Bank was founded by George W. Cuyler some time after 1844, according to Thomas L. Cook, Palmyra and Vicinity (Palmyra, 1930), p. 285.  Cook wrote that in April 1853, Mr. Cuyler merged his business with the Palmyra Bank established by Pliny Sexton in 1844.  They kept the Cuyler name, ". . . Mr. Sexton giving up his office in the Lovett block [building] and moving to the Cuyler block on the corner [of Main and Williams Streets], with the following officers:  George W. Cuyler, president;  Pliny Sexton, vice-president;  Stephen P. Seymour, cashier. " (Cook, p. 285).  From the check now at hand, we learn that Mr. Seymour had already been serving as cashier of the Cuyler bank before the 1853 merger.  Cook shows Seymour as the owner of various homes in Palmyra (pp. 65, 147), a hardware dealer in 1837 (p. 73), and the vice president of Palmyra's First National Bank in 1870 (p. 285).

 

 

[Smith, Joseph - military attire]  Newark Daily Advertiser (newspaper, Newark, NJ) for Friday evening, August 6, 1841 [10:31].

Folio, [4] pages.  Modest wear;  leaves separated from one another.

(order item #43):  *SOLD $30*

A small article at the bottom of page two reports how a prophet may dress . . .

 

 

 

Anti-Mormon Idaho legislators employ the Mormon use of the term, "Gentile" . . .

[Utah Statehood]  Idaho (Territory) Legislative Assembly. . . .  Memorial of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Idaho, Protesting Against the Admission of Utah as a State. . . .  [at head:  "50th Congress, 2d Session} SENATE. {Mis. Doc. NO. 37.  In the Senate of the United States.  January 14, 1889.—Presented by the President pro tempore;  referred to the Committee on Territories, and ordered to be printed."]  [Washington:  Government Printing Office, 1889].

22 cm.  2 pages on one leaf.  Very good, but browned;  removed from a binding.

(order item #44):  *SOLD $25*

Flake 4182;  Fales & Flake 969.  I purchased this sixteen years ago, so perhaps it is time to catalog it (thin, easy to overlook) . . .

Idaho House of Representatives joint memorial No. 1, passed  in "Boisé City, Idaho" (which gave us Rick Grundér) at the end of 1888, dreading the "calamity" of Utah Statehood, and representing . . .

Guess they didn't like the Mormons.  There is more, but you get the idea.

 

 

 

[Utah War]  "Mormon Fanatieism. [sic]"  Intensely pro-Utah War, anti-Mormon EDITORIAL "For the Burlington Sentinel" in The Burlington Weekly Sentinel (Burlington, Vermont [D. A. Danforth, Editor]) for Friday, December 4, 1857 [57:49].

Large folio, [4] pages.  Removed from a binding, leaving the gutter edge ragged.

(order item #45):  $125

Lengthy, dramatic editorial, original to this newspaper (page two;  twelve column inches).  This is how many Americans felt about the Mormons in 1857, and this newspaper is the original source where a dramatic example is recorded.  Any part is worth quoting;  here is one paragraph . . .

Do you like the song "Annie Laurie" ?  In the right-hand column of the front page is a moving story taken from the Boston Olive Branch which you will not forget.

 

 

 

We expect a bloody war.

[Utah War]  "The Policy of Our Government Towards the Mormons."  Intensely pro-Buchanan, anti-Mormon editorial on the front page of The Burlington Weekly Sentinel (Burlington, Vermont [D. A. Danforth, Editor]) for Friday, December 18, 1857 [57:51].

Large folio, [4] pages.  Removed from a binding, leaving the gutter edge ragged.

(order item #46):  *SOLD $125*

Lengthy, dramatic editorial, evidently original to this newspaper (the lead article, page one;  sixteen column inches).  If you are looking for unrestrained language, you will not be disappointed.  It shows how public sentiment ran in portions of the Northeast at this time, and thus embodies an original, primary source of Mormon history. 

Any paragraph of this editorial could be quoted here with satisfactory effect.  Here is a portion of one of them . . .

 

 

 

[Utah War]  The Tribune Almanac . . . and Political Register for 1859.  New York: H. Greeley & Company.

18½ cm.  80 pp.  Original illustrated pale green wrappers.  Very good;  owner's names on front wrapper.

          (order item #47):  $65

Flake 9001 (saying only 17½ cm.), locating only the copies at Harvard, Princeton, and the Huntington.  "Utah and the Mormons" (pp. 37-42;  approximately 4,500 words).  Critical of the Buchanan decision to send Johnston's Army to Utah, this article points out the relative effectiveness of Thomas L. Kane in soothing Mormon feelings afterward.  While the writer will not countenance polygamy, he uses the Utah War as a chance to attack the President.

Wherever government and Mormon versions of circumstances differ, this writer tends to give Saints the benefit of the doubt, if for his own political purposes.

 

 

 

Printed by Ethan Smith's son

[Vermont - Poultney]  Vermont. Laws, statutes, etc.   Acts Passed by the Legislature of the State of Vermont, at Their October Session, 1822.  Published by Authority.   Poultney [VT]: Printed by Smith and Shute, 1822.

23½ cm.  102 pages.  Original printed wrappers.  Uncut and partially unopened.  Wear & light dampstaining;  loss of paper to backstrip.

(order item #48):  $40

American Imprints 11291.  Printed by Rev. Stephen Sanford Smith, one year before he would print his father's View of the Hebrews.   The front wrapper displays the same curious backward-slanted type face (and point size) which would be used for the word View in that important work, along with other recognizable type.  The Acts of the legislature were farmed around to various printers, apparently, and fell to Smith this year.  The Vermont lawmakers attended to miniscule details, as one sees in this booklet, even requiring a separate act for individual child adoptions or name changes of citizens.  With detailed indices.

 

 

delicate engraving, nearly 150 years old

[Weber Canyon]  Weber Lower Cañon, April 5^th at 2 p.m. From an Island in Weber River;  Valley of Great Salt Lake.  Wah-Satch Mountains.  U.S.P.R.R. Exp. & Surveys 41^st Parallel.  Expl. by Lieut. Beckwith. Vol. II.  C. Schumann from F. W. Egloffstein.  Selmar Siebert's Engraving & Printing Establishment, Washington D.C. [1855].

(order item #49):  *SOLD $85*

20 X 28 cm.  One leaf on heavy paper, verso blank.  Pleasing modern hand-coloring in pastel tones. Click on the thumbnail image at left to view enlarged illustrations of this plate.

A peaceful, attractive image (the picture itself measuring 5½ X 9 inches + captions and margins).  It is a single engraved illustration plate taken from a copy of Edward G. Beckwith, Report of Exploration for the Pacific Railroad . . .  (Washington, D.C., 1855).  Ideal for display in a Utah home.  In very good condition.

 

 

[Wine]  Record of early LDS consumption of wine in public, in the Portland Transcript  (newspaper, Portland, Maine) for Saturday, February 3, 1855 [XVIII:43].

Folio, paged [337]-344 (8 pages).  Foxing, removed from a binding.

(order item #50):  $60

The following article, obviously not intended to be critical, inadvertently betrays a public lapse in obeying the Word of Wisdom.  It fills 1¾ column inches on page 342, and reads as follows:

For another example of official Mormon wine drinking, see the issue of the Boston Cultivator for November 15, 1845, offered in my Mormon List 53 (1996, item 10).  A second, brief news blurb on page "139" (i.e., 339) says that "Mrs. Sarah Young, one of the many wives of Brigham Young, the Mormon, has left her lord and master and intends to show up Mormon customs in a series of lectures in Boston."

Modern readers can evaluate the impact or significance of such a short mention, by comparing it to the equally quick notice accorded a world-famous figure, immediately following, also transcribed here in its entirety:  "Jenny Lind Goldschmidt has been on a visit to her native city, Stockholm.  Her husband could not accompany her, the laws of Sweden forbidding the presence of a Jew."

 

 

 

The Woodstock Mercury (newspaper, Woodstock, Vermont) for Thursday, February 26, 1852 [XV:50].

Folio, [4] pages.  Dampstains and edge wear.

(order item #51):  *SOLD $50*

Front-page article (column 5;  15 inches long) is a letter from one John Hardy to the editor of the Boston Transcript.  "Mormonism Exposed by an Ex-Mormon."  The writer claims to have "been personally acquainted with Brigham Young and his associates called by them the twelve apostles, and having had frequent conversation with them in respect to their policy in relation to the Government of this country . . ."  The reader must expect the worst . . .

 

 

the first American engraved portrait of Brigham Young

[Young, Brigham]  Pleasant engraved portrait on a single leaf taken from Gleason's Pictorial (Boston) for Saturday, June 3, 1854.

Folio, one leaf, paged 345-6.  Very good.  Toned and with  a few medium stains, but quite presentable in all, the portrait not adversely affected. Click on the thumbnail image at right to view enlarged illustrations.

Listed on eBay March 11, 2005 (ten-day sale)

Bear in mind that because of the date, this unbearded portrait (7 X 5½ inches) is more youthful than those generally seen for sale.  Brigham's Masonic pin shows clearly.  Both the picture and a brief accompanying text adjacent to the portrait are complimentary.  The bottom half of the leaf illustrates the "Observatory, Chelsea, Massachusetts," and is equally hand-colored and attractive.

This will make a very effective framed presentation.  It is the earliest non-Mormon published Brigham Young portrait of which I am aware, preceded only by Frederick H. Piercy's ". . . Plate of the First Presidency and Twelve Apostles, of the Church . . ." (Liverpool, 1853).  It is discussed and illustrated by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and R. Q. Shupe in Brigham Young;  Images of a Mormon Prophet (Provo, Utah, 2000), pp. 124-5.

 

 

 

[YOUNG, Brigham]  "Brigham Young a New Yorker."  Article taken from the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, in The Burlington Weekly Sentinel (Burlington, Vermont) for August 6, 1857 [57:32].

Large folio, [4] pages.  Removed from a binding, leaving the gutter edge ragged.

(order item #53):  *SOLD $85*

This account strikes me as rather dubious, but it comes from some early resident of western NY State, evidently.  Here it is, on the second page:

 

 

 

[Young, Brigham]  Illustrated obituary of Brigham Young, on a single leaf taken from Harper's Weekly.  A Journal of Civilization (New York) for Saturday, September 15, 1877.

Folio, one leaf paged 721-2.  Very good;    Slight edge faults can be matted over easily for display.

(order item #54):  *SOLD $45*

"Brigham Young," fills 24½ column inches (front & back of the leaf) plus a good engraved close-up portrait measuring 7 X 6 inches.  This lengthy article speaks of Young's former power, and now expects the ultimate "downfall of the system of ignorance and licentiousness of which he has been so long the head."  The obituary concludes with some editorializing . . .

 

 

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